“Beautiful,” he said softly, pressing up behind me and gazing at me in the mirror.
It wasn’t a compliment from him. I was just one of his pretty possessions. A thing to be admired.
“Well?” he asked, stepping to my side and fixing his already perfectly styled hair. “Aren’t you going to comment on how I look?”
I blew out a derisive breath, looking him up and down in the mirror and wetting my lips. “You look merciless, Saint Memphis. Like always.”
He smirked and that expression sent an angry tirade of butterflies swarming through my belly. Better call pest control for those little bastards.
Saint leaned in and pressed an icy kiss to my cheek, making my entire body freeze in reaction to it.
“Do your makeup,” he breathed then walked away and every butterfly dropped dead just like that.
***
An entire Saturday with the Night Keepers was predictably long. I brought them drinks while they played video games then they made me count pebbles on the shore while they swam in the lake and laughed together about how fucked the world was. I didn’t quite mind that display of muscular bodies dripping with water. Shame about the personalities attached to them though.
When the sun finally did me the solid of setting, I was ready to go to bed and be done with this day. It was only a few more hours of torture until they let me and I finally stepped into the bathroom with a sigh of relief.
Although, it was short lived, because I soon remembered I had to do this all over again tomorrow. And the next day and the next…
I stripped down and put on my nightdress, climbing into the bathtub ready for another uncomfortable night’s sleep. My phone battery was low and I made a mental note to ask the asswits to charge it. I knew they would; they wanted me on call at all times. As it was essential to them controlling me.
My eyes fluttered closed and I drew in a long breath as I begged sleep to come and take me away from this nightmare. And hopefully not fling me into another one. I just wanted the sweet gift of nothingness to steal me away for a while. And at long last, I got my wish.
***
I woke with a cold sense of dread in my bones and I knew something was wrong. A hand clamped over my mouth and my scream was stifled by the huge palm. Blake hauled me out of the bath, crushing my back to his chest and holding me so tightly I couldn’t breathe.
He dragged me out of the bathroom into his room, shutting the door quietly behind us.
“Don’t fight me,” he snarled in my ear and I nodded against his palm. He slowly released his hand then turned me around and slapped a line of duct tape over my mouth instead, making my heart falter. He twisted me around again, yanking my hands behind my back and tethering them together with a zip-tie.
He guided me out into the hallway and walked me to the front door as fear collected in my bones. I glanced around, anxious that neither of the other two appeared as he half carried me outside.
Something deep inside me said this was wrong. I didn’t know what he was gonna do, but I was sure if I went with him I’d regret it.
As we made it onto the porch, I slammed my heel down onto his foot as hard as I could. But without a shoe to aid me, he didn’t even flinch. He jerked me against his body once more, not releasing me an inch and my heart thrashed against my ribcage.
“What did I say?” he hissed. “One more move like that and you’ll pay for it, Cinders.”
My breathing became frantic as he led me up the path, the darkness thick around us. When we reached the edge of the woods, he shoved me up a narrow track and released his grip on me, jabbing me in the back.
“Move,” he commanded in a tone that had fear rolling through me.
I marched in front of him, my bare feet pressing to the damp ground as I made a plan in my mind. Every nerve in my body was screaming at me to run. And Dad had always told me to trust my instincts.
The second there was a curve in the path, I fled, racing off into the trees, circling back in the direction we’d come. I knew running to the other Night Keepers was insane, but I was sure this was more than just another way to freak me out. Blake was on a warpath and I was his target.
“Stop!” he barked and a scream ripped through my lungs, unable to get past the duct tape. His heavy footfalls raced after me and panic spread into my limbs as I tore through the trees in the dark. My white nightdress stood out starkly and I knew my only chance was outrunning him and making it back to The Temple.
My heart thundered in my chest as I almost made it to the path.
Blake’s weight collided with me and the full force of his best football tackle took me to the ground. I wheezed beneath his weight, unable to breathe for a second before he dragged me to my feet by the hair. I wished I could scream and claw and bite. But I was at his mercy as he lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder.
I screamed against my gag, tears filling my eyes as terror crawled into my limbs and took me hostage. He strode deeper and deeper into the woods, his breathing growing heavier the further we went until we were so far away from the centre of campus, I was sure even without the gag no one would have heard me scream.
He dropped me onto my back and I winced as my hands were crushed beneath me. The light of the moon spilled over us, giving me just enough light to see by and the shadowy man before me turned my blood to ice.
“I am so fucking sick of looking at you,” he snapped, his voice like a knife slicing through the frigid air. “Get up!”
I pushed my hands into the soft earth, rolling to my knees and standing. Terror ripped into every inch of my body as I found myself gazing down into a six foot deep grave before me.
Blake severed the tie around my wrists then ripped the gag off of my mouth and I yelped in pain.
I swung a fist at him, but he was ready, throwing his palm against my chest so I stumbled backwards. My feet met nothing but air and I screamed as I tumbled down into the hole, landing hard on my back. I spluttered a cough, terror consuming me as I hurried to get to my feet and gazed up at him above me.
“Please don’t do this,” I rasped, my throat raw from swallowed screams.
“Shut the fuck up!” he bellowed and I stilled, trembling from head to toe, wondering how I was ever going to get out of this. Was this where I was going to lay for the rest of time? In some hidden grave in the woods?
“You won’t get away with this,” I blurted. “Everyone on campus knows who-”
“I said – shut the fuck up,” he snarled, reaching for something at his hip and producing a gun. Not just any gun. My dad’s gun. The Glock 19 pistol.
“Blake,” I breathed, my throat closing up as my heart beat harder and harder.
“She’s in a grave like this, you know?” he snarled. “Six fucking feet under because of your filthy fuck of a father.”
“I’m sorry,” I begged as panic seized me. “I know you lost your mom and I’m so, so sorry for that Blake. But you don’t want to do this.”
He laughed hollowly then crouched down, gazing at me with malice in his eyes. “You don’t know what I want,” he said in a deathly quiet tone. “And you don’t know what I’m capable of either.”
I quaked before him, frozen to my core in nothing but my panties and nightdress. “I do know what you want,” I choked out.
Blake blew out a sharp breath through his nose. “And what’s that?”
“You want me hurt,” I whispered. “You want to see me in pain, you want me suffering for what happened to your mom.”
“Maybe I’m done with the suffering,” he growled. “Maybe I want it over with.”
My lower lip trembled and I tentatively reached up to him, my fingers grazing his as I stretched up onto my tip-toes. “You won’t kill me,” I breathed, though I wasn’t sure if my words were true. I just wished they were with all my heart.
He slapped my hand away and I flinched, stepping back.
“She suffered for a week in hospital,” he growled. “She was infectious so they wouldn�
�t even let us visit her. I had to say goodbye to my mother through fucking FaceTime,” he spat, rising to his feet and kicking the earth so it showered over me.
I backed up against the opposite wall, tears washing over my skin as I stared at this broken boy.
“I’m sorry,” I breathed. “I never had a mom, I can’t even imagine.”
“No, you can’t,” he snarled, his shadowy silhouette blocking out the light of the moon as he glared down at me. The gun hung loosely in his hand, his finger sitting on the trigger and my heart drummed a war beat in my chest. Despite all of my self-defence classes, nothing had prepared me for this. Being helpless. Weak. Unable to fight back.
“She was a good person,” Blake said, a cloud of vapour rising around him in the cold air. “She didn’t deserve to die like that. Alone. With no one there to hold her-” his voice cracked and he turned away from me, starting to pace.
“I know you’re hurting,” I said gently, praying he’d listen to me. “I know what it’s like to lose someone.”
“Fuck you!” he roared, his voice echoing back to us from the mountain. “Don’t lie to me,” he growled and my heart withered as I realised he was never going to listen.
“Please Blake,” I begged. “I’m not your enemy.”
He fell still and I couldn’t see his expression in the dark. I stood, shaky and tiny beneath him, everything I’d ever been and ever would be narrowing in on this moment. He could take it all from me in a single movement. Buy his revenge in blood.
He lifted the gun, aiming it down at me and my heart fractured. It was over. Done. And between the freezing air and the heated tears rolling down my cheeks, I found an inch of calm in it all. Jessica. She felt closer to me then than she had in such a long time, I could almost hear her calling my name on the wind.
I shut my eyes, not wanting the darkness to be the last thing I saw. I pictured the light days, the happy days, the moments curled in my dad’s arms with a story book resting on his knees. I remembered playing with Jessica in the yard, pretending we were birds as we flapped our arms and soared across the ground, really believing we were flying.
The heavy thud of boots sounded in front of me and my eyes flew open a second before Blake grabbed the back of my neck and yanked me in for a fierce kiss. Adrenaline spiked through my blood as he crushed me back against the dirt wall, his fingers tangling in my hair as he groaned like he was in pain.
I could taste my tears on our lips and he drank them hungrily, the full force of his body pinning me against the earth. His tongue invaded my mouth with desperate strokes and the fire in him burned right through to my core, igniting everything along the way.
I started kissing him back, lost to the voracious passion in him as it brought every part of my being to life. It was wrong, twisted, wholly fucked up. But I wanted him in that moment. I wanted him to taste my pain and I wanted to taste his back. And somewhere between it all, there was just two people grieving, aching, hurting. And in that kiss was a relief I’d never thought I’d feel. A dulling of that eternal pain inside me.
Blake broke the kiss and the fire in my veins gave way to the icy cold of the grave once more. Our breaths fogged between us as we panted. Reality was as sharp as a blade slicing into my flesh.
“Never, ever tell the others about this,” Blake warned and my throat constricted.
“Never,” I swore. But not because I cared to follow his orders. But because this crazy, fucked up moment was ours. It didn’t make it right, or good. I couldn’t forgive him for dragging me here and pointing a gun in my face. But I also knew what grief did to a person. I knew it ate away at who you were, gnawing until there was nothing but a bloody wound that begged for redemption. I was Blake’s redemption. And for some strange, messed up reason, I had a feeling he might be mine.
“I need to run some errands,” Saint said abruptly, pulling my attention from the Xbox where my character was battering a zombie’s head in with a baseball bat full of nails. Nice.
“Errands?” I asked casually, my gaze fixed on the screen. Speaking fluent Saint was a fucking life skill that I deserved a medal for. Errands did not mean popping to the shops or going to visit friends in Saint speak. Oh no, errands meant that someone had stepped out of line and he was going to fuck them up for it.
“Yeah.”
“You need me?” I asked, hoping that this particular errand might need his ass kicking. My blood had been getting hotter and hotter for the last few days. Spending so much time locked up in The Temple during that quarantine bullshit hadn’t suited me at all. I was a wild animal and I wasn’t meant for a cage. Not even a gilded one.
“Not this time. Just some jumped up little Susan who needs knocking down a peg. It’s better suited to me and Blake. Besides…” Saint stepped closer to me and I actually looked up from my game at the growl in his voice. “With the way Blake‘s been with her recently, I don’t think we should let him be around Tatum unless we’re both there too. Just until we can be sure he’s not going to lose it entirely. I’m all for fucking her up as much as he needs to, but if he kills her that’s a whole other level of shit landing on our doorstep.”
“Naw, Blake might have gone batshit but he’s not the killing kind,” I said, though I had to admit some of the things he’d been saying recently sounded like he’d come close to snapping like that once or twice. But I’d known a few killers in my time and I knew Blake Bowman better than I knew myself. He was a lot of things. But a killer? I couldn’t see it.
“Maybe. Maybe not. Do you want to risk our pet’s life on it?” Saint asked and I pushed my tongue into my cheek as I considered that.
My gaze skimmed across the room to the kitchenette where Tatum was busy washing up after our dinner. She was making enough noise for me to be fairly sure she couldn’t hear us and my gaze trailed over her as I wondered whether Saint had a point. I did like having her around. It was refreshing. Something new in a life that was so predictable. And she wasn’t half bad to look at. Not half bad at all. No was the answer, I didn’t like the sound of that one bit.
“I guess I like having her around,” I admitted.
“Good. Then you’re on babysitting duty tonight. Don’t expect us back until late, this errand will take most of the evening. I need to drive the point home. With all of this virus bullshit, people are starting to think of their lives as more fragile than they used to be. They’re wondering whether they wanna stay under our heel for the duration of this shit or if they’re going to fight against our command. And I’m not going to allow any descent amongst the masses.”
“Of course you’re not.” I snorted a laugh and looked back at the screen. Saint was always so concerned about controlling everyone and everything around him. He had to be certain that every single person in this place knew exactly who ruled over them at all times. But I saw the whole top dogs thing as simpler than that. When it came down to it, I could and would beat the shit out of any fucker who tried to stand against me. I didn’t see the need for all the posturing and threats. If anyone stepped too far out of line, I’d just kick them back down again. Simple. But Saint would be Saint and it was on him if he wanted to play his fucked up little games.
“I’ll see you tonight,” he promised as if he thought I might be going anywhere else. But the school was on lockdown so where the fuck was I supposed to go?
I got back to my game, slashing, killing, stabbing and shooting my way through hoard after hoard of zombies before finding a group of survivors who were holed up in a barn. They gave me the option to join them and I took the choice to butcher them and steal their supplies instead. Obviously.
Saint and Blake soon left on their little mission and my skin prickled as I realised I had Tatum Rivers all to myself for the evening.
Now what will I do with her?
I continued my game for a while, but my character kept dying as my attention wavered. Before I could make any decisions on my little night in with my trophy, she came to me.
The cushions bou
nced as Tatum moved to sit on them, folding her legs beside me and letting her knee brush against my thigh. That shit was intentional, but I had no problem with the seduction game she was trying to play with me. I just wondered how far she was really willing to push it. Because if she was hoping to crawl into my bed, she might be surprised when she found herself chained to it too.
I tossed the control aside, abandoning my game as I turned to look at her. She was wearing a pair of high waisted grey slacks and a white blouse that had enough buttons undone to give me a glimpse of her cleavage and the black bra she wore beneath it. Saint had her dressed up like a sexy secretary who was destined to get fucked over the CEO’s desk. All she needed was a pair of thick rimmed glasses to complete the look. It was hot. But it wasn’t my usual bag.
“So…” she began as I let the silence drag between us.
“So?”
“Umm, what are we doing tonight then?” She bit her lip nervously and I chased the movement with my eyes, a hungry growl escaping me as I imagined biting it harder.
“Same thing we do every night at the moment,” I deadpanned, the mind numbing boredom of this fucking quarantine situation already making me ache with a need for violence and freedom, and we’d only been locked in this fucking school for a short time.
“So Saint said we have to stay in?” she asked with a sigh.
“Saint’s not the boss of me,” I growled.
“Mmmhmm.”
I knew what she was trying to do. She was trying to drive a wedge between me and the other Night Keepers, trying to goad the beast in me. But what she didn’t realise about Saint being in charge was that I liked it that way. I had no interest in controlling the masses and I didn’t give a shit about making decisions and hard choices. All I cared about was the rush of the fight. So if people saw me as Saint’s guard dog, held tight on his chain to be unleashed at his whim, that was just fine by me. I didn’t give a shit. Because it wasn’t true. I did what I wanted. And it just so happened that I wanted to be pointed in the direction of fuckers to mess up from time to time. I didn’t mind being set loose with my fists and fury at his beck and call one little fucking bit. Because whenever he offered me up a fresh victim, he was just feeding the beast within me. And that fucker was always hungry.
Kings of Quarantine: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep Book 1) Page 39
